Thank you guys so much for all the reviews. Yall are so sweet. I'm in love with this story and I hope you guys are too. This chapter is all BETHYL and its probably my favorite. Let me know what you think.
WARNING: Daryl's abusive past is mentioned.
Daryl sat across from Beth as they ate dinner alone together. When Rick told the two of them that he wouldn't be joining them for the meal, Daryl worried that it would be awkward and uncomfortable to be alone with Beth despite his efforts to make conversation with her before Rick interrupted them earlier. But she made sure that they never ran out of something to talk about at the table and her warm smile actually encouraged him to open up a little. He told her about his job and how he met Rick. But when Beth asked about his parents, he made sure that she knew that topic was off limits. She already knew what kind of man Merle was, couldn't she guess what kind of father they shared?
Daryl thought that Beth would think of him as weak and pathetic if she knew about the scars on his back. Or worse, she would pity him. Her life had been so perfect until her parents died, she wouldn't understand how someone could feel relief at their father's funeral instead of sorrow. And Daryl didn't only have scars on his body, his heart was covered in them. His mom had loved the bottle more than him and he watched their house burn down with her inside. His brother swore he was nothing like their father, yet he verbally abused Daryl still to this day, just like their father had when he was a kid. Daryl knew better than anyone that you didn't have to put your hands on someone to hurt them. Merle's been teaching him that lesson for a long time.
Daryl knew that he was nobody. Nothing. Some redneck asshole with an even bigger asshole for a brother. But when he was with Beth, he felt like so much more than that. Her eyes lit up when he spoke and she blushed when she caught him staring, which he never realize he was doing until her face reddened. He had a bad habit of staring and getting lost in his own thoughts. He was usually so quiet around people because he had never been good with words and he didn't want people thinking he was uneducated or stupid just because he had a thick redneck accent.
"So first, I say something I've never done and if you have done it, you lose the round. And if you haven't, I lose the round. Then we switch. It's really a drinking game but we don't have any alcohol. You really don't know this game?" Beth had come up with the idea to play this game when Daryl shut her down after she asked about his parents. She realized that she didn't know much about him. She knows he like to hunt, knows he drives a truck for a living, and knows he has a brother. But that's about all she knows about the man in front of her.
"I ain't never needed a game to get lit before." Daryl mumbled.
"Wait, are we starting?" Beth had to ask because Daryl's confession would have been a good first round.
"How do you know this game?" Daryl squinted his eyes at her with suspicion and pointed a finger at her. He knew she was too young to drink and she didn't look like the partying type.
"My friends played. I watched." She answered defensively. "Okay, I'll start. I've never drank alcohol. So now I'm winning." She knew that Daryl had drank before because he drank beer with Merle and Rick at the cabin last month.
"Ain't much of a game." Daryl knew that he and Beth were as different as day and night. They could go on and on with this game and there's no telling who would have the most points by the end of it.
"That was a warm-up. Now you go." She said.
"Hmm… I don't know." Daryl was chewing on his thumb and shrugged his shoulders. He didn't like this game already.
"Just say the first thing that pops into your head." Beth encouraged.
"I've never been on vacation." Daryl always wanted to go to Vegas for vacation but when he wasn't working, he liked being home to keep an eye on his brother and hang out with Rick.
"What about camping? The hunting trip we took like a month ago?" She questioned.
"Na. That's just something I like to do. I meant vacation out of Georgia, like Vegas or somewhere with a beach." He clarified.
"Okay. You win that time. We're tied now." Beth was keeping score. "I've never… been in a serious relationship before." She kept her eyes on her plate until a couple moments passed and Daryl hadn't said a word. She peeked up at him through her lashes and saw confusion and suspicion written all over his features.
"Well I mean, I went out with this guy from my old school a few times, Jimmy. But there was just too much pressure." She didn't know why she felt the need to explain herself but she guessed it was because Daryl still hadn't said anything after her confession.
"What'd he try to pressure you to do?" The words flew out of Daryl's mouth a fraction of a second after Beth finished speaking. He felt rage build up inside of him and held his breath for the answer.
"No, not pressure from him. But from my dad. He acted like I had to decide if Jimmy was 'the one' after only going out with him a couple of times. I guess he didn't like the idea of me with boys and just wanted me to know that it was either going to end in heartbreak or marriage. I didn't like the idea of either at the time so I stopped going out with Jimmy and haven't had a boyfriend since." Beth didn't like her dad being so overprotective of her back then but she'd give anything to listen to one of his talks about boys again.
"I've never been in a relationship either." Daryl admitted.
"You're a virgin?!" She asked in disbelief.
"What? No. You don't gotta date someone to fuck 'em. Uh, I mean have sex." Daryl knew that the girl in front of him was mature, but he didn't realize just how innocent she is until now. He watched as her cheeks lit up bright pink and decided that he was tired of playing the game. He got up to put his plate in the sink then walked outside for a cigarette without another word.
When Daryl came back inside, Beth was washing the dishes. He didn't know if he should leave or stick around for a while. Their game had entered inappropriate territory moments ago and he wasn't sure how he felt about it.
"I should go." Daryl crossed his arms and looked down at his boots.
"You sure? I can put on a movie." Beth offered, again hating how desperate she sounded.
"I don't know." Daryl shrugged.
"I'll make popcorn." She bribed.
"M'kay." He reluctantly agreed.
It wasn't that he didn't want to stay and watch a movie with her. He just didn't feel right about it. He felt… guilty. Mostly because the little voice in the back of his mind was telling him that he didn't have completely pure intentions. He was attracted to this girl, this seventeen year old girl. He shouldn't feel this way. It's wrong.
Beth searched through the Netflix selection on the large TV in the living room. She browsed the action genre because she wasn't sure what kind of movies that Daryl liked but she was sure that it wasn't romance or comedy. They went through the list of action movies together and Daryl grunted every time she offered to play a movie that sounded decent.
"At this rate, we're never gonna get around to actually watching a movie." Beth huffed. She was sitting on the couch with her legs tucked under her while Daryl sat on the floor with his back leaning on the couch and his arms resting on his raised knees.
"Do you wanna watch somethin scary?" She was about to give up but Daryl nodded so she quickly looked through the horror genre and picked out the scariest looking movie she could find. This time, she didn't give Daryl a chance to protest.
The movie was labelled The Conjuring and Beth remembered her old friends telling her how scary it was. Her dad never let her watch scary movies but she didn't see the harm in it. She leaned over to turn the lamp off as the opening credits played.
By the end of the movie, Beth was terrified. Now she knows why her dad never let her watch these kind of movies. She thanked the heavens that Daryl had been there with her, even though he chuckled every time she jumped at a particularly scary scene.
Beth placed the empty popcorn bowl on the coffee table and switched the lamp back on.
"It's gettin late." Daryl said as he stood up, hinting that it was time for him to go.
"You can't leave." Beth exclaimed, horrified of being left alone now that she was already on edge from the movie.
"I gotta." Daryl said with a smirk.
"Please stay. You can sleep on the couch, you've done it before. Just don't leave me here alone." She begged.
Daryl shuffled from foot to foot, weighing his options. It's not a good idea, he knows that. But she looked so goddamn cute and helpless, how could he say no?
"I guess." Daryl felt like he had just sold his soul to the devil but the smile on her face was worth the hell fire he was sure he'd suffer for this.